Grand Rapids fashion was on display at the 2017 Runway on the Rapids event hosted by the Saint Mary's Foundation.

Local boutiques DENYM, Lee&Birch, Elizabeth Halsey and The Shoppe at Saint Mary's provided spring and summer looks to the massive audience at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids.

In addition to the local boutiques, this years show brought guests Siss Viss, a Memphis designer who creates pieces using bicycle inner tubes. She is a two time winner of Memphis Fashion week and brought the house down with her amazing designs.

Hair and makeup for the evening was provided by 15 East Salon, Bang Blowdry Bar and Salon, Chasing Vanity Salon and Spa and Hanna Wagner Design.

Music for the event was produced and performed by Grand Rapids' own DJ AB.

The event benefits the Multiple Sclerosis Program at Mercy Health Hauenstein Neurosciences. Fashion show creator Kim VanOeffeln has suffered with MS for the past 6 years. She and co-creator Alyssa Locke have created an environment where fashion takes the stage to benefit those experiencing MS in the Grand Rapids area.

We have photographed the fashion show and fundraiser since 2014 and this year saw the largest attendance of any show! If you would like to see the event's history, feel free to visit the 2014 fashion show, the 2015 fashion show or the 2016 fashion show.

Throughout the evening we are tasked with photographing 3 things:

Candids & details of the event showing how much fun guests are having
Portraits of Models for each Boutique
Fashion show itself & the energy of the evening

Below you will see these type of images and many thanks goes to Kristy Berends, my assistant for the evening who took care of the candid & detail images while I was shooting portraits of models backstage.

If you would like to see the complete gallery of images from the show, be sure to visit the online gallery provided by the Saint Mary's Foundation on Facebook (feel free to LIKE their page as well while you're there).

If you have an upcoming charity event or have an event that requires orchestration and has a lot of moving parts throughout the day (or over the course of a few days), we are more than happy to help you plan and execute a great media strategy and provide you with amazing photography in the process.